The 12th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, agreed on the need to establish an African Union Authority, as a prelude to the formation of a continental government.
The closed-door meeting also agreed on the need to strengthen the continental organs to facilitate regional integration.
Vice President John Mahama, who is leading the Ghanaian delegation to the meeting, told journalists after the 12 hours brainstorming session that the Heads of state, would consider all aspects of the proposed Union Authority, to facilitate the drive towards continental union government.
The meeting is on the theme: "Infrastructure Development in Africa."
Vice President Mahama said the establishment of the Authority was in line with the road map adopted at the AU conference in Egypt in 2008 and a follow up to the Grand debate in Ghana in 2007.
He said the session was emphatic about the need for a union government, although the approach to achieve the objective differed.
He said what was important to Ghana was the achievement of the objective and not the debate on whether a union government could be formed immediately or the supremacy of the sovereignty of member states.
Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, President of the Economic Community of West African States, said the meeting had not agreed on the modus operandi for the proposed union government and whether sovereignty would belong to the individual state.
Dr Chambas observed that the closed-door session was passionately committed to the rekindling of the spirit of Pan Africanism.
Mr Kwesi Quratey, Ghana's Ambassador to Ethiopia and the Permanent Representative to the AU and the United Nations Economic Community for Africa, said there was consensus about the need for the United States of Africa, although the problem was the way forward.
He said the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr Meles Zenawi, told the meeting that there was no need to agree on every related issue about the union government, since what was of essence was to isolate the key objectives and move the debate forward.
Meanwhile, the 20th Summit of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee, held in Addis Ababa, had elected Dr Ibrahim Hassan Mayaki from Niger as the Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Secretariat.
Mr Zenawi, who addressed the meeting, urged African leaders to have the political will to implement decisions taken in the interest of the continent in order to eliminate dysfunction and embrace change.
He said the integration of NEPAD into the AU structures was necessary to promote African renaissance.
In a related development, Mr Mahama met with Mr Jean-Louis Ekra, President of African Export-Import Bank, to discuss the possibility of relocating the Head office of the bank from Egypt to Ghana.
Mr Ekra said Ghana and Nigeria were the two strong contenders for the sitting of the head office, besides Senegal, Kenya, Mauritius, Zambia and Benin.
The bank was established in order to promote intra- trade and investments among member states.
On this issue, Mr Mamaha said Ghana was a leading candidate in the bid to host the bank and would therefore consult with Nigeria in due course to make the dream possible.
He noted that the role of the bank was crucial to Ghana especially at the time when the global economic recession and food crisis are affecting the country.